Driving gender diversity through your organization

Closing the project management gender gap boosts diversity and widens the talent pool. Lisa MacLaren, Senior Vice President of Client Services, spoke with Raconteur.

From the article: “Focusing on gender specifically, a lack of female role models produces a work environment where women don’t feel welcome and don’t feel they can progress. Introducing greater gender diversity at the project manager level will have a spill-down effect through the organization.”

Lisa explains how businesses must also look more holistically: “Simply cherry-picking women for management roles will counter-actively produce an environment where those at the top don’t see women coming in at the bottom, creating disillusionment. Influencing the bottom of the machine, for example, by investing in early career programs that actively promote female involvement, attracts candidates who feel they might not necessarily be a perfect fit, into becoming a perfect fit; boosting diversity and widening the talent pool,” 

“Soft skills take longer to develop and are therefore in greater demand, whereas hard skills can be developed more quickly,” says Lisa. “The cost of getting individuals with the necessary soft skills up to speed in the industry is much lower than the value of bringing in their expertise and outsider perspective. Hiring for soft skills opens you up to a wider, more diverse talent pool, introducing a diversity of opinion and ability which improves productivity and business impact.”